(1)It was used to state that prophecy was fulfilled, or
completed - Matt 1:22; 2:15, 17, etc.

(2)By extension, it also means coming to an end.

(a)When you fill up a car, you stop pumping gas
because no more can be added.

(b)Luke 7:1 - Jesus finished his speech

(c)Acts 19:21 - Paul finished his work in Ephesus

(3)Jesus was the conclusion to the law - Romans 10:4

2.But in completing the law, it does not mean that Jesus left us lawless - II
Corinthians 3:5-11

a.Notice that the glory of the old law was fading, but what remains is
more glorious

b.What remains is a new covenant

c.Hebrews 8:6, 13

d.And
in case you would argue that the Ten Commandments were not a part of the covenant
- Deuteronomy 4:13

III.Objections to Sunday being the Christian’s day of worship explained

A.Acts 20:7 says nothing about worship, rest, or the Sabbath, let alone indicating it
was a new commandment to worship on that day.

1.The first day of the week was the day the disciples came together
(assembled).

a.They come together as a church - I Corinthians 11:18

b.That is what “church” means, an assembly

c.Paul assembled (came together) with the church - Acts 11:26

d.Coming together as a church was for the purpose of worship - I
Corinthians 14:23, 26

2.It was the day the assembled disciples broke bread.

a.They come together to eat - I Corinthians 11:33

(1)What is eaten is the Lord’s Supper - I Corinthians 11:23-26

b.Breaking of bread can be a reference to the Lord’s supper - I
Corinthians 10:16

(1)It recalls the institution - Luke 22:19

(2)Listed in with other parts of worship - Acts 2:42

3.The first day of the week is also the day contributions were to be collected
- I Corinthians 16:2

4.We are commanded to follow the examples

a.Paul commanded that we imitate him - I Corinthians 4:16; 11:1

b.Note others who also follow - Philippians 3:17

B.The early church also worshiped on Pentecost, so why don’t you keep Pentecost
as well?

1.The New Testament mentions that the church started on the day of
Pentecost; however, it does not mention that the church celebrated
Pentecost or observed any of the regulations for Pentecost. It simply
marked the time when the church began. - Acts 2:1

2.Pentecost always fell 50 days after the feast of Unleaven Bread. Since the
feast ends on a Saturday, this means that Pentecost always falls on a
Sunday.

3.Hence, the church does happen to worship on Pentecost, not to celebrate
the Jewish feast, but because the times happen to coincide.

C.Mainstream Christianity worships on Sunday only because the Catholic Church
and Emperor Constantine changed the day of worship to Sunday.

1.Constantine ruled about AD 330

2.Acts 20:7 - Paul’s visit shows that Christians met on the first day of the
week.

3.I Corinthians 16:2 - Paul’s instruction implies that Christians met on the
first day of the week.

4.Didache, between 80 and 140 AD, “But every Lord’s Day, gather
yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having
confessed your transgressions, so that you sacrifice may be pure.” [Didache, chapter 14]

5.Ignatius, about 107 AD, “If, therefore, those who were brought up in the
ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no
longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's
Day, on which also our life has sprung up again in Him...Let us therefore
no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in the days
of idleness; for "he that does not work, let him not eat." ...let every friend
of Christ keep the Lord's day as a festival, the resurrection day, the queen
and chief of all the days [of the week]” [Epistle to Magnesian, chapter 9]

6.Aristides, about 125 AD, “However, [the Jews,] too have erred from true
knowledge. In their imagination, they think that it is God whom they serve.
Actually, by their type of worship, they render their service to the angels
and not to God. For example, they do this when they celebrate Sabbaths.” [The Apology of Aristides the Philosopher, XIV; Ante-Nicene Fathers 9.276]

7.Justin Martyr, about 160 AD, “Is there any other matter my [Jewish]
friends, in which we Christians are blamed, than this: that we do not live
after the Law ... and do not observe Sabbaths, as you do?” [Dialogue with Trypho, chapter X; Ante-Nicene Fathers 1.199]

8.Justin Martyr, about 160 AD, “There was no need of circumcision before
Abraham. Nor was there need of the observance of Sabbaths, or of feasts
and sacrifices, before Moses. Accordingly, there is no more need of them
now.” [Dialogue with Trypho, chapter XXIII; Ante-Nicene Fathers 1.206]

9.Justin Martyr, about 160 AD, “And on the day called Sunday, all who live
in cities or in the country gather together to one place. And the memoirs of
the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time
permits. Then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs
us and exhorts us to imitate these good things. Then we all rise together
and pray. And, as we said before, when our prayer is ended, bread and
wine and water are brought. Then, the president in like manner offers
prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability. And the people assent,
saying “Amen.” Then, [the Lord’s Supper] is distributed to everyone, and
everyone participates in [the bread and wine], over which thanks has been
given. And a portion of it is sent by the deacons to those who are absent. ...
But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because
it is the first day on which God ... made the world. And Jesus Christ our
Savior rose from the dead on that same day.” [First Apology, chapter 47]

10.Eusebius, citing Irenaeus, about 180 AD, “This custom of not bending the
knee on Sunday is a symbol of the resurrection, through which we have
been set free by the grace of Christ.” [Fragments from the Lost Writings of IrenŠus, Fragment 7]

11.Tertullian, about 197 AD, “We devote Sunday to rejoicing for a far
different reason than sun worship. ... Others ... suppose that the sun is the
god of the Christians ... because we make Sunday a day of festivity.” [Testimony of Tertullian, chapter 7]

12.Tertullian, about 197 AD, “Just as the abolition of fleshly circumcision and
of the old Law is demonstrated as having been consummated at its specific
times, so also the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been
temporary.” [An Answer to the Jews, "Of the Observance of the Sabbath;" Ante-Nicene Fathers 3.155]

13.Anatolius, about 270 AD, “It should not be lawful to celebrate the Lord’s
mystery of Easter [i.e. the Lord’s Supper] at any other time but on the
Lord’s Day, the day on which the Lord’s resurrection from death took
place.” [The Paschal Canon of Anatolius of Alexandria, Section X]

14.Victorinus, about 280 AD, “And let this become a rigorous fast, lest we
should appear to observe any Sabbath with the Jews. For concerning [ther
Sabbath[, Christ himself, the Lord of the Sabbath, says by His prophets that
“His soul hates.” In His body, He abolished this Sabbath.” [On the Creation of the World].

15.The evidence is solid that early Christian, long before Constantine,
worshiped on the first day of the week and not the seventh day.
Constantine could not have instituted a new practice since the practice pre-existed.

16.What Constantine actually decreed on March 7, 321 AD, “On the
venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities
rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons
engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits.”

a.In other words, he established the first “Sunday closure law” or
“Sunday blue law.”

b.He didn’t change anything in regards to the activities of the church.

IV.It is clear from the Scriptures that worship was done on the first day of the week. It is
clear from history that the early Christians understood this as well.

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